Tuesday, November 11, 1997
Simon says `I'm sorry'
By DAN BARNES -- Edmonton Sun
TORONTO - It's fitting that Mike Grier crossed the Peace Bridge on his way here from Buffalo last night.
The Oilers forward came to Toronto to hear an apology from Chris Simon, who directed a racial slur at Grier Saturday night after a game between the Capitals and Oilers in Landover, Maryland.
Simon and Caps GM George McPhee met with Grier and Oilers VP Doug Risebrough last night at an airport hotel. The summit meeting was arranged at the request of Simon and done with GM Glen Sather's co-ordination.
"Slats called me this afternoon and said that Chris was really struggling with this and he was really upset about what had happened and he wanted to meet," said Grier. "I said sure. It'd be great to get everything out of the way. So we just went up there and talked for about five minutes. It went pretty well.
"He said, `I'm sorry' several times and I believed him. He had a very sincere look in his eye and his manner about him seemed very honest. It takes a stand-up person to come out here and handle the situation as quickly as he did. I accept his apology."
But the NHL will still take action. They have already suspended Simon for one game pending today's hearing and he can likely look forward to several more nights off. He made a serious mistake and there is a price to pay, though Grier isn't looking for punishment.
`HE FEELS PRETTY BADLY'
"There's nothing I'm looking for or not looking to come out of his hearing (today). I think he's been pretty broken up about everything and he feels pretty badly so I hope the league takes that into consideration and whatever happens happens."
What happened on Saturday night came out of the heat of battle. Grier was asked if that was a mitigating factor in his mind.
"In some ways, just because there have been times when I've done stupid things or said things out there that I regret in the heat of the moment. I understand it from that point of view. But at the same time it's something I don't feel should be said when you're out there playing a game man-to-man."
And Simon should know better. As a native American of the Ojibwa tribe he has dealt with racism from the other end of an insensitive mouth.
"There's been instances, I've been told, when he's had to go through the same thing, people taunting him or whatever, about his heritage. I think he realizes it's a sensitive subject.
``I think he also realizes it's not something that you say to someone and he feels sorry for it."
McPhee echoed those sentiments and was speaking for Simon last night as he chose not to comment until after today's hearing.
"He was embarrassed and disappointed in himself and ashamed and most importantly contrite. He wanted to apologize right away after the game and couldn't do it because of the emotions of the moment.
``He asked my permission to look (Grier) in the eye and apologize."
And after doing something so wrong, Simon did the right thing here last night.
"We should all be proud of both men tonight," said McPhee. "Mike Grier had a clear mind and an open heart and was very classy and Chris had the courage and the humility to apologize face to face."
Grier now hopes something good can come of an unfortunate situation.
"Hopefully it will just raise awareness maybe out there. There are a lot of people who think racism doesn't exist still but there's always going to be incidents in our society. I hope this raises some eyebrows that we're not beyond racism as some people think we are at times."
EMOTIONAL GAME
Sather was happy to hear that Simon would make the gesture and will accept the league ruling, whatever it may be.
"Players make reactions. Hockey is a very emotional game. They do things they are sorry for all the time.
``You have to be accountable for what you do. National media people have lost their jobs for derogatory marks about people's race. I'm not comfortable with what happened.''
One ironic note here, of course, is that Chris Simon is an Ojibway Indian from Canada and he plays hockey in a city whose football franchise is known as the, "Redskins."
Certainly this was not the first time the name was used by one hockey player against another. Certainly Willie O'Ree heard the word in the NHL in 1958. The Carnegie brothers and Manny McIntyre must have heard it in the Quebec Senior League in the 1940's. Mike Marson, Tony McKechnie and other black players in the NHL must have heard the word.
At a game at the Montreal Forum in the 1980's I heard the word shouted at Grant Fuhr, then of the Oilers, and I heard it many times used against my teammates when I played houseleague hockey in Greenfield Park, Quebec in the 1970's (I also heard many racial epithets shouted at the lone Japanese player on my team).
The difference now, of course, is that many people refuse to roll over and pretend the word has no historical significance. It is that history, and its resonance today, that makes the issue so heated.
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